Chapter 253. α (2)
Blue, purple, or a pale pink close to transparency.
Just a slight glance away reveals the horrifying scene of gelatinous skin from kindred that still hasn’t drained of blood, splattered in a riot of colors.
In short.
The damage caused by the so-called Great War of invasion was tremendous.
To put it bluntly, the Alphauri side got wiped clean.
They claimed to be the first in this world, the utmost, always referring to themselves as the ancient first number (α).
Yet they derided you as merely a second-rate (β), following the rear end of this prime world, only to find themselves helplessly overrun by the satellites.
The fighting power of the fallen Beta Species was terrifying.
They had spent many long years researching movement towards survival, making them adept at adjusting speed and distance through magic.
“Damn it. These speedy little pests!”
“Ah, ah, ah. We were wrong.”
“Count Yuté has passed away. The upper levels have no hope left.”
The fortress they painstakingly built collapsed. In an instant, many troops in the Alphauri camp were killed.
Yet to some extent, they had long handled the miracle that is magic, so it wasn’t a total one-sided massacre.
Overall, things were not looking good.
Wait, didn’t an outlandish term appear somewhere in the middle?
“That’s right. It’s a term for a noble duke from Earth. We used to follow quite a strict class hierarchy back in the day.”
“….”
“But the actual words used here weren’t exactly the same. There are different titles, but they’re so cumbersome to pronounce and practically foreign, so I don’t see the need to meticulously translate them. Just think of the words I’m going to use as having roughly similar nuances.”
Even the Alphauri once had the concept of nobility.
Class systems. Privileges. Noblesse oblige.
Fleshed out by diverse elements, noble souls saturated in blood and flesh.
But they soon let go of parts of their power base with their own hands.
“We’re short on troops.”
In truth, at the time of this Great War, magic wasn’t widespread.
“For overwhelming dominance, we monopolized magic for ages.”
“We passed the techniques down through generations to safeguard our wealth and status.”
“Only those with noble blood could use high-quality techniques…”
“Occasionally, rebels arising would be a problem.”
“While the beggars splashed around in nature, we developed miracles that could even stop tidal currents, and yet we ended up like this.”
“At last, the end of arrogance has come.”
“No longer can a few protect the many.”
To prevent losing their home planet.
To avoid being overrun by invaders from another world.
The established class of the time convened discussions and decided to disclose advanced magical knowledge to the general populace.
“We are too short on troops.”
In the end, it all boiled down to this fatal issue—they needed to nurture more mages.
Thus, they hurriedly established schools.
Recruitment was heated as well.
Fortunately, while there was a lack of high mages who mastered diverse spells, there were still enough straightforward warriors known as knights to maintain the front lines.
Still, about 135,000 professional knights were required to sustain the sluggish halt.
Moreover, before the mages of various countries could launch their barriers, the number of slain freemen reached a staggering tens of millions.
.
.
.
How much time had passed since the population of the Alphauri plummeted?
After countless battles.
-~…. ~….
Before long, the economy crashed.
Refugees multiplied like weeds.
Having been ousted from the relatively peaceful mid-sea region, they faced the brink of the deep sea.
The time of decline, with battles dropping down to the deep sea just before the abyss, had arrived.
The Alphauri, while entrenched in the dim deep waters, often thought, “So, this is how we perish.”
Yet, as is often the case before dawn breaks, it was in these darkest hours that the seeds of hope began to sprout.
“Ugh. This area has been hit. The thieves swept everything away. Not a single edible kelp left…”
Finally, a mage destined to leave his name in history emerged.
“Huh?”
Just as he had once said himself, there was indeed something extraordinary about him from the moment of birth.
“What the hell is this?”
In some obscure ruins of the deep sea.
Thump, thump, thump.
‘It’, presumed to have been born a few weeks prior, stretched its uneven legs, resembling a malignant cell, sucking in the earth’s nutrients from the parched ground.
But it would later be revealed.
This newborn Alphauri had survived alone in that vast wasteland for about 8 weeks and 3 days.
“Gah!”
Whoosh.
The infant Alphauri instinctively killed and swallowed anything approaching within its range.
However, thinking rationally, it was hard to understand how a newborn could survive for so long purely through such instinctive feeding responses.
There were no guardians.
No proper food around.
Previous Alphauri were still at the mercy of starvation threats.
So how did that creature muster the means to survive so long on this land?
“What the….”
Thump, thump, thump.
A silent creature revealing its existence solely with the pulse of its heart.
“Could it be feeding on mana?”
In addition, it possessed a tremendous internal magic power that even adult Alphauri would find prickly against their skin.
A true mystery of its inception.
The first to discover it was a nameless beggar from an ancient era.
Yet, this starving adult did not consume the found child.
“That tiny body wouldn’t even fill me up.”
Instead, he chose another method.
“We’re incredibly short on troops!”
Again, this binary star orbiting planet was in the midst of a war involving all races.
*
“Friends~ Today, we will learn the names of animals living in the world.”
Wow!
“Now, who makes this sound?”
Ground meat! Ground meat!
A few years had passed.
Now, the Beta Species had firmly established their nation in the upper sea.
Rumors circulated that their walls scraped the sky, both thick and high.
“Excuse me. Is there a head here?”
Amid such despair, however, some wave began to rise, due to someone’s efforts.
One day.
A strangely shaped Alphauri appeared at a humble orphanage in the fringes of the deep sea.
Its immense size and bubbling like Champagne due to the gas inside.
This Alphauri bore an unmistakable presence, entirely different from the beggars of the outskirts.
Moreover, the beast it rode was famously known for its expensive upkeep, a blue-bearded mammal no less.
“Oh my! Yes! I’m the head here; what can I do for you?”
The operator quickly recognized the guest’s extraordinary presence and bowed.
The guest then presented some sort of inscribed mark and spoke.
“You have a precious summons. I hear this place recently raised a child with a magical disorder (a condition of mismanaged internal magic)?”
Now, the period of this Great War could be likened to an ambiguous past similar to Earth’s medieval era.
In other words, it was a century referred to as the ‘Middle Era’ of this oceanic planet.
At this time, the Alphauri could still only increase their numbers through natural reproduction via partners.
Thus, life was still precious.
And so, to maintain population in the wake of the Great War, the concept of orphanages emerged, with the state even offering funds in exchange for picking up abandoned children.
Thanks to this policy, the future Great Mage would safely reach the institution without being devoured by beggars.
And until now, had been raised.
“I heard that this fellow, although still young enough to be in an orphanage, already used impressive magic to kill a hunting whale?”
“Well, yes.”
“A magical disorder and a hunting whale. At this rate, he obviously wouldn’t need to wait until the state’s prescribed age.”
“Hmm?”
“I need to place him into this generation’s nurturing facility. Bring him here.”
“Uh… wait a minute. That’s…”
“What’s the problem? Just bring him.”
But the head was stuttering, rather unsure.
“Yes, understood. But I will bring him first…”
The power-wielder with a fluorescent orange body soon found himself speechless upon seeing the orphan that appeared.
Though admittedly, he had loaded up on nutrients causing his extremities to be of larger than average size.
How could it be that this Alphauri only had a size no bigger than one tentacle of his?
“What on earth.”
Furthermore, deep-sea dwellers were generally larger than their peers.
Considering that too.
“Isn’t he too small?”
The orange power-wielder gasped in astonishment.
The newly revealed mage was shockingly young… yes, put simply, still in childhood.
Thus, the orphanage director had been showing such a troubled expression.
“Huh! A child who can’t even peel crustaceans is supposed to hunt?”
Now just beginning to form words like ‘mom’ and ‘dad’, this young kindred would go on to exhibit astonishing behavior.
“!!”
Crack.
With no incantation, it rounded up the water in front of it and iced it solid.
And began to play with the magic-created cold sphere as a toy.
How could one not be astonished?
“This child…”
Swish.
The former member of the high authority, back when magic thrived, leaned closer.
And peering with intention, he spoke.
“Could it be that he’s not a magical disorder?”
If the child in front of him were not a special patient, the story ahead would change significantly.
Among Alphauri, there were rare cases of individuals whose organs malfunctioned, continuously releasing energy outside.
Those afflicted by the disorder known as “magical disorder” typically had visibly abnormal internal magic.
Normal symptoms showed as energy leaking out like a broken pot.
Thus, these beings were disastrous, often wasting their powers.
Their flows, like a river with a broken dam, resulted in limited and massive spells.
However, the green Alphauri before him certainly…
“He performed a clean freezing spell that seems hard to believe without wasting a bit of energy!”
Moreover, the speed at which he completed the magic was flawless!
The orange observer’s body quivered and stretched out. His surprise was evident.
Having realized the child whom he had mistaken for a patient was simply an inherently enormous talent with immense magic power, why hesitate any longer?
“I must take this child to the nurturing facility! Head, you will surely be greatly rewarded too! With this degree of potential, it wouldn’t be long before we grow this future Great Mage who will reclaim the upper levels!”
Sparkle, sparkle.
The enormous Alphauri began to express joy, even lightening the color of his body slightly.
Yet, amidst this joyous atmosphere, someone poured cold water over it.
“What’s a nurturing facility?”
The round creature nestled in the arms of the orphanage director vibrated as it conveyed this sentence.
“Oh my! Is such a genius really here? Looking so young yet already speaking so well…”
Ahhhhh!
Swish.
Suddenly, the orphanage director freaked out and flung the child with his tentacle.
As they were on an ocean planet, fortunately, the kindred was unharmed and gently floated in the water.
But the concerning part lay precisely in this matter.
“Oh dear! What is this! You little brat! I thought for sure you were deaf?!”
That orphan from the ruins hadn’t spoken a single word throughout his care.
Even after countless prompts from state-appointed infant teachers, he simply kept his mouth shut, fiddling with ice pieces.
Thus, the orphanage director had come to subconsciously assume that he must have a problem with auditory cells or vocal organs.
“I can hear. I can talk. But I didn’t earlier. Why? Because everyone just made unnecessary noises.”
“This is insane…”
“Whale. Coral. Ash. Stone. Floor. I’ve already memorized all those. Why keep pointing and asking for pronunciations? It’s annoying.”
Is this truly the vocabulary of one in their infant years?!
The orphanage director and the orange adult were taken aback for different reasons.
However, that didn’t last long; the orange adult soon regained composure and pulled the floating child back.
“Your way of speaking is much like a reflection of my childhood…”
And he made an offer.
“Then we can communicate in the same language. To put it plainly, a nurturing facility is a place where magic studies are taught.”
“Learn?”
“There, you will face excellent mentors and competitors enough to rival, and countless keys you couldn’t possibly count with the number of your tentacles.”
“Keys? Never heard that word.”
“That’s alright. What I truly want to convey is that it’s a place that deals with the most beautiful academic studies in this world…”
Swish.
With tentacles reminiscent of an octopus’s sucking strength, he lifted the child.
“You will go there starting tomorrow. There’s no choice. You understand, right?”
While the enrollment process seemed a bit coercive, fortunately, the child had no visible complaints.
The deep-sea orphan, at the very least, whole-heartedly agreed with the sentiment that magic was the most beautiful of studies.
“So, if I go there, can I also become a magic scholar?”
“Absolutely. But why have you been mixing formal and informal speech so far?”
“I don’t know politeness yet. I’m two years old. What more can I hope for?”
